THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTSí ACHIEVEMENT IN VOCABULARY AND READING ABILITY

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.Background of Study

Englishisaninternationallanguage.Almostallcountrieshaveadapted Englishusedasacompulsorysubjectatschools.Thenationaleducationhas decided that English as a foreign language taught in Indonesian
schools. It learned started from primary schools up to university. People
realize that teaching English atthislevelbecomesveryimportantandneedmuchconcern.AsanEnglish teacher,heorshedemandstoexploreeffectivetechniques,method,and approaches.

Thestudentshavetomasterthefourbasiclanguageskills.Theyare
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Besidesuch basic skill, the student has to master
some vocabularies as well as possible.Vocabulary
is one important aspect in learning a foreign language. With a limitedvocabularyanyonewillalsohasalimitedunderstandingintermsof speaking,reading,listening,andwriting.Itistruethatitmightbeimpossibleto learnalanguagewithoutmasteringvocabulary.Vocabularyisoneofthe
problemsconfrontedbyEnglishlanguagelearners.Becauseofthelimited vocabulary,thelearnerscannotcommunicatetoothersclearly.Sometimesitis difficult to group the idea
transmitted to them. The acquisition of a large number ofvocabulariescanhelpthestudentsread,speak,listen,andwrite.Agood vocabulary and ability to use words correctly
and effectively can help the students make school work easier and more
rewarding, and also many tests that they take inschoolincludevocabularyquestions.Themorevocabulariestheyknowthe better their chance to do well on an
English test.

AccordingtoH.G.Tarigan,ìKualitasketerampilanberbahasaseseorang jelas tergantung pada kuantitas dan kualitas yang dimilikinya
maka semakin besar kosakatayangkitamilikimakasemakinbesarpulakemungkinankitaterampil berbahasaî.1 (The
quality of language skill depends on the quantity and quality of vocabulary.
The more vocabulary we have, the bigger possibility to have a skill to use the
language). Mastering vocabulary is the ability to get or to receive a lot of
words. By having and mastering vocabulary we will know the meaning of
vocabulary in the context. Measuring vocabulary helps to avoid making mistakes
in understanding.

On
the other hand, foreign students learning English reading text, one lack of
vocabulary, whereas in fact vocabulary is the most important thing in reading skill.Nowadays,theabilitytocomprehendEnglishisnecessaryforpeoplean alsotounderstandingEnglish,peoplehavetoabletocommunicateEnglishand alsoabletoreadmanykindsofEnglishtext.Theabilitytoreadiscrucialin contemporarysociety.PeoplefindmanytextswritteninEnglish,fromholiday Henry Guntur Tarigan, Pengajaran Kosakata
(Bandung: Angkasa, 1986) p.2 brochurestoacademicbooks,newspaper,advertisements,etc.therefore,the ability to read
English text in any form will give a great deal of advantages in our lives.

HarryMadoxsaidthatìreadingisthemostimportantsingleinstudyî.2 And the curriculum stated that out of the four skills,
listening, speaking, reading, andwriting,themainemphasisisonreadingskillbecauseitisbelievedthat acquisition of reading in a second or foreign language is
priority.3Reading is good thing in life
because it is a factor of great importance in the individual development and
the most important activity in school. It is needed ineveryleveloffieldofstudy.Particularlyincaseswhenstudentshavetoread English materials for their own special subject.Being able to read in English is very
important as it is known that success inreadingisthemostnecessarybecauseitisabasictoolofeducation.Allthe subjects in Elementary School such as
mathematics, science, language, and others depend on the ability to read. In
high school and college reading ability becomes evenmoreimportant.Throughreadingweacquirenewideas,obtainneeded information, seek support for our
ideas and broaden our interest. We can also get the message that the????????????????